Hello all

Hello all,

First of all I would like to thank all of you who volunteered to help me and Zoey when we return home from China. Between my Mom and Justine (not leaving out my Dad and Joe but Mom and Justine I think will offer more in terms of taking care of the baby) for two weeks in China and Aunt Helen, Sloane and Michael when I get home I think I've got it covered. I should be a professional baby caretaker in no time.

Right????

It seems like it was just a week ago when I sent you the last adoption update. I cannot believe how quickly time is passing when I would very much like to slow it down. Time has taken on such a new meaning to me it is amazing. Though this baby is not kicking in my stomach it is definitely kicking in my head as I enter my 11 month of adoptionency and have yet to finish that baby book.

TWO more months TWO just TWO until I finally find out who this little buttercup is and how much she weighs so I can see if the little dresses and things I have been squirreling away will fit.

I have dinner once a month with a group of women who are also using my adoption agency and are living in Manhattan, we have grown to about 15 women by now and we are all at different stages of the adoption process. One woman in the group, Merrill, just received her referral, our first referral in the group. Her daughter to be, Sadie, is 7 months old and healthy and has these big delicious chubby cheeks. Hearing and seeing a picture of her daughter makes it all the more attainable to me. We all plan on still meeting when we have our babies too. I plan on having an order- in dinner on my patio this summer for the group as one of our meetings! My wonderful, fantastic, terrific Dad started work on my apartment this week which I am very, very excited about. I will finally be moving -- not this weekend but next.

I am in the process of working with someone to set up a website for Zoey that should be done next month. You can all visit and read Zoey's adoption story( which I am diligently working on) and see pictures etc. and read our travel story when we all return from China. If any one has any suggestions for the website I would love to hear them.

I don't know if I have ever told everyone about what we call adoption angels. People who have been extremely kind and generous of heart and spirit along this whole process and have helped out in any number of ways. I have had the good fortune to have many adoption angels on my adoption journey and the most recent one was by a couple on Ebay (Dominick and Sherry). As some of you know I was very obsessed with E-bay for a while there, I bid on a glider/rocking chair (it was from Bellini, a very expensive children's store). I won the bid for approx $200.00 and made arrangements with the seller to pay and additional $30.00 to have the chair delivered (they live in Westchester). Every day they would email me that they were delivering the chair and every night I would reply to the email "I guess I will not be gliding tonight." It was over two weeks and I was starting to get a little nervous that I was never going to be gliding in my chair. Our emails became a little more detailed and I learned that they were moving in a few days and had to go visit a sick family member, their baby was older they didn't need the chair that is why they were selling it. As we started to get friendlier through email, they asked what I was going to do with the chair and I told the story of how I was adopting. They emailed me back that the chair was a gift and they dropped it off the next day. I was beyond surprised and thrilled -- the chair is perfect!!

Other adoption news ....... A move that is unique to the airline industry, Northwest Airlines announced a new "Special Delivery" adoption travel fare. The fares, which are available starting today, are 65 percent off full coach fares and 50 percent off World Business Class fares.( Which I hear is a must on our 16 hour journey) They feature open returns, require no advance purchase, carry no cancellation or change penalties, and have access to book up to the last seat in the economy cabin. "These new parents often must travel on very short notice to pick up their children, so we've designed these fares with maximum flexibility and coupled them with low fares." "Northwest and KLM have delivered many, many children to their new lives in the U.S. over the years and we're pleased to offer our Special Delivery fares to fly these important new travelers home." How truly wonderful and amazing that this airline has decided to recognize the international adoption community.

Everything in my world seems to be coming together beautifully; my only "if only" now is, if only the stock market would go back up then everything would be absolutely perfect!!

Until next month....
Lisa